Transparent broadcast structure in communication systems

ABSTRACT

A broadcast channel, such as a broadcast control channel that carries a short message service, in a GSM/EDGE or similar communication system can be extended with additional timeslots. These additional timeslots can be pointed out in a tree structure, the root of which is in the SMS broadcast channel. The extended broadcast channel can be used for broadcast-like services provided under a multimedia broadcast/multicast service.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 60/612,161, filed on Sep. 23, 2004, which isincorporated in its entirety here by reference.

BACKGROUND

This application relates to mobile communication systems and inparticular to television broadcasting in such communication systems.

“Broadcast-like” television (TV) services, which is to say, serviceswith a conventional-television-channel concept, are already availablefor some mobile telephony networks. For example, the Mobile TV serviceof Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) provides TIM subscribers with streamingcontent, enabling subscribers to watch TV shows on their mobile phonesvia GSM's general packet radio service (GPRS) technology. Anotherexample is sports-team goal notification services, such as that providedby Vodafone, which uses GSM's multimedia messaging service (MMS). Thesecurrent implementations are based on real-time streaming over unicastGPRS bearers, but capacity limits on application servers and core andradio access networks constrain service expansion and build-out. A fewnetwork operators currently deliver broadcast-like services in widebandcode division multiple access (WCDMA) communication systems bycircuit-switched (CS) streaming.

A multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) in GSM and WCDMAcommunication systems is currently standardized by the Third GenerationPartnership Project (3GPP) in Technical Specification (TS) 23.246“Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS); Architecture andfunctional description”, V6.6.0, Rel. 6 (March 2003). According to thespecification, MBMS is a point-to-multipoint service, in which data istransmitted from a single source entity to multiple recipients.Transmitting the same data to multiple recipients allows networkresources to be shared, and the MBMS bearer service has broadcast andmulticast modes. With MBMS, a complete set of multicast and broadcastservices can be offered in telecommunication systems, such as UMTS andmobile telephony systems according to the GSM, Enhanced Data Rates forGSM Evolution (EDGE), and WCDMA specifications. The GSM EDGE radioaccess network is usually abbreviated as GERAN. Changes to networkarchitecture as well as additional service-related signaling will beintroduced to the existing systems by deployment of MBMS. Aspects ofMBMS are described in M. Bakhuizen et al., “Mobile Broadcast/Multicastin Mobile Networks”, Ericsson Review vol. 82, no. 1, pp. 6-13 (2005).

Audio and video coder/decoders (codecs) used for streaming sessions forthe small display screens typical of handheld devices are improving andare standardized by the 3GPP, e.g., TS 26.234 “Transparent end-to-endPacket-switched Streaming Service (PSS); Protocols and codecs”, V6.3.0,Rel. 6 (March 2003). Current implementations like the TIM Mobile TVservice use streams that have data rates of 28 kilobits per second(kbps), but for very high quality content, the data rate needed isprobably more than 100 kbps. For an intermediate level of quality, adata rate of 40-64 kbps is needed for a stream comprising both audio andvideo. For example, 12 kbps could be used for stereo audio encodedaccording to an adaptive multi-rate wideband codec (AMR-WB+) and 32 kbpsfor video encoded according to an MPEG-4 codec. Considering usersensitivity to errors in such streams, a block error rate (BLER) of1%-2% or less may be needed for acceptable performance.

Another ongoing standardization activity is the Digital VideoBroadcasting (DVB) Project, which aims at including DVB receivers inmobile terminals, such as mobile telephones. A recent standard is“Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Transmission System for HandheldTerminals (DVB-H)”, ETSI EN 302 304 V1.1.1 (June 2004). This is anextension of the current DVB-terrestrial (DVB-T) standard to supporthandheld devices and introduces a new transmission mode, IP datacasting(IPDC), which is described in “IPDC in DVB-H: Technical requirements”,DVB Project (June 2004). IPDC is the end-to-end DVB system, including amobile interaction channel for mobile handheld broadcast services. Seealso “IP Datacast Baseline Specification; PSI/SI Guidelines for DVB-T/HSystems”, document A079, DVB Project (April 2004). For even moreinformation, the interested reader is directed to http://www.dvb.org.

Moreover, inclusion of a separate DVB-H receiver in a user terminal alsorequires new terminal hardware and antennas. Different antennas might beneeded in different countries due to spectrum allocations.Interoperability testing and verification due to new network nodes willdelay introduction. Local distribution of programs/channels will becostly due to needed modifications of network structure, which istypically designed for national or regional coverage.

Compared with DVB-H and DVB-T, GERAN/UTRAN MBMS has a lower data rate.On the other hand, GERAN/UTRAN MBMS can transmit different informationin each cell. Thus, GERAN/UTRAN MBMS is suitable for broadcastingcontent that is locally variable or broadcast/multicast-group dependent.UTRAN, or the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network, is part of theUniversal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) and identifies the partof the network that includes radio network controllers (RNCs) andso-called Node Bs, which are analogous to base stations in other mobiletelephone systems. UMTS is one of the third generation (3G) mobiletelephone systems being developed within the IMT-2000 framework of theInternational Telecommunications Union (ITU) and standardized by the3GPP.

Even so, to be competitive with DVB-H, the performance of cellularbroadcast bearers can stand improvement. Dedicated unicast channels ineither Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS) or WCDMA systems are difficult to use formobile TV streaming because such channels will not scale to large usage.This problem of capacity limitations in the radio network is helped byMBMS, which provides one dedicated channel for each group of terminalsreceiving the same content. Nevertheless, a separate channel for aprogram guide or service description is also needed. Channel switchingmay also be slow with the currently standardized MBMS due to delayscaused by restart of streaming sessions.

SUMMARY

In accordance with an aspect of this invention, a channel structureconfigured for distribution of multimedia information in a communicationsystem is provided. The channel structure includes a broadcastcommunication channel divided into a plurality of timeslots; and apointer included in a predetermined one of the timeslots. The pointerpoints out at least one extension channel that is included in at leastone other broadcast timeslot and that carries unacknowledged multimediainformation.

In accordance with another aspect of this invention, a radio accessnetwork configured for distribution of multimedia information isprovided. The radio access network includes a base station thatbroadcasts radio signals having a channel structure configured for themultimedia information, wherein the radio channel structure includes abroadcast communication channel divided into a plurality of timeslots,and a predetermined one of the timeslots includes a pointer that pointsout at least one extension channel that is included in at least oneother timeslot in the radio signals and that carries unacknowledgedmultimedia information

In accordance with yet another aspect of this invention, a userequipment for a communication network in which a broadcast signalincludes a succession of timeslots that carry unacknowledged multimediainformation is provided. The user equipment includes an input deviceconfigured for activation by a user; a receiver configured to decode thebroadcast signal, and a control processor in communication with theinput device and the receiver. A predetermined one of the timeslotsincludes a pointer that points out at least one extension channel thatis included in at least one other timeslot of a broadcast signal. Basedon user-input information from the input device and information aboutthe communication network, the control processor determines at least onetimeslot to receive and decode and causes the receiver to receive anddecode the determined timeslot.

In accordance with a further aspect of this invention, a method ofdistributing multimedia information in a communication system isprovided. The method includes the steps of dividing a broadcastcommunication channel into a plurality of timeslots; and including apointer in a predetermined one of the timeslots. The pointer points outat least one extension channel that is included in at least one othertimeslot of a broadcast communication channel and that carriesunacknowledged multimedia information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The several features, objects, and advantages of this invention will beunderstood by reading this description in conjunction with the drawings,in which:

FIG. 1 depicts a broadcast channel having a plurality of timeslots;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a communication system;

FIG. 3A is a block diagram of a radio access network in a communicationsystem;

FIG. 3B is a block diagram of a base station in a radio access network;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a mobile terminal;

FIG. 5 is a more detailed block diagram of a mobile terminal; and

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a method of distributing multimediainformation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The inventors have recognized that the existing short message service(SMS) broadcast channel that is typically carried by timeslot zero (TS0)on a broadcast control channel (BCCH) in a GSM/EDGE or similarcommunication system can be extended with additional timeslots and thatthese additional timeslots can be pointed out in a tree structure, theroot of which is in the SMS broadcast channel. A BCCH typically carriesoverhead messages, e.g., paging or call alert messages, as well as textmessages like SMS, directed to individual terminals.

The inventors have also recognized that such an extended BCCH can beused for broadcast-like services and that it has no need for interactionbetween communication terminals, such as mobile telephones, and theinfrastructure part of the communication system, such as base stationsor Node Bs. A terminal receives only the broadcast channels that thebase station transmits, and each broadcast channel carriesunacknowledged multimedia information. In this way, ordinary EGPRSchannels can be set up from a media server to the broadcast channels inthe base stations. The number of channels, channel content, and thechannel structure can be defined by a system operator by suitabledimensioning and program production. A terminal can select a broadcastchannel and buffer or download broadcast content with a suitablesoftware application executing in the terminal. Content may be buffered,or cached, for shorter times to compensate for network latency, decoderdelay, etc., or downloaded for longer times to enable “off-line” ornon-real-time presentation of broadcast content. Buffering, or caching,real-time multimedia streaming content can minimize glitches in the datatransfer and also channel switching time by having several receivebuffers filled up all the time. Also, the same or another softwareapplication can select the best frequency to receive, and thus in effectcause a handover of the terminal.

FIG. 1 depicts a plurality of timeslots TS0, TS1, TS2, . . . , TS7 thatare temporal portions of a carrier signal. In GSM/EDGE, TS0 of the BCCHcarries SMS information, and an SMS broadcast channel may carry 15 pageswith 93 characters.

The inventors have understood that a pointer or token, such as acharacter string, that points out an extension channel can be insertedin a timeslot, such as in any of the pages broadcast on a typical SMSchannel. For example, the string, “Broadcast: BCCH TS1: BBC”, could beinserted into a page carried by TS0. As suggested by the string itselfand as described in more detail below, such a string can point toanother BCCH timeslot or timeslots and indicate information to be foundthere. In this example, timeslot TS1 of the BCCH has information about aBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) channel.

It will be appreciated that any suitable pointer can be used, not merelya character string, and that the pointer need only be included in apredetermined slot on virtually any broadcast channel. Moreover, thepointer need not point to a slot or slots on its own channel, but ingeneral can point to any other slot or slots transmitted in thecommunication system. In addition, the pointer can include informationthat is “open”, i.e., presented to a user, and information that is“hidden”, i.e., information that is used by the user's equipment butneed not be presented to the user. Some examples of such hiddeninformation are information on the modulation and coding scheme used fora broadcast channel or channels, and information on which timeslotcorresponds to which broadcast channel.

As in the example shown by FIG. 1, the first extension channel carriedin a timeslot such as timeslot TS1 and indicated by a pointer such as anSMS character string can advantageously be a service or program guide,which may conveniently but not necessarily look similar to a main pageof a conventional text-TV channel. By providing a sufficient number ofphysical timeslots for the extension channel, several main pages orchannels can be pointed out, for example one for each broadcast servicenode or broadcast production available from the communication system.Three such main pages in timeslot TS1 are indicated by the three arrowsthat point to respective pairs of subsequent timeslots. It isadvantageous for the content of a Service Guide to be continuouslyupdated to the terminal.

One or more suitable pointers such as character strings on a main pagecan point to another extension channel or channels, which are carried bythe additional timeslot(s) pointed out. In the example shown in FIG. 1,an extension channel called TV channel1 is carried by timeslots TS2 andTS3, another extension channel called TV channel2 is carried bytimeslots TS4 and TS5, and yet another extension channel called TVchannel3 is carried by timeslots TS6 and TS7. Thus, the whole BCCH isindicated as allocated for broadcast channels, but this is notnecessary. Moreover, the channels carrying the unacknowledged multimediainformation, such as the Service Guide and three TV channels in thisexample, can be arranged in any suitable way among the allocatedtimeslots.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a communication system 200 that can employthe channel structures described in this application. A mobile terminal,or user equipment (UE) 202, communicates through a radio access network(RAN) 204, such as GSM/EDGE, with core-network entities, including aservicing GPRS support node (SGSN) 206, a gateway GSN (GGSN) 208, a homelocation register (HLR) 210, and a broadcast/multicast service center(BM-SC) 212. The core-network entities are conventional and adapted tohandle MBMS and multimedia information generally. In a typical GSM/EDGEnetwork, a PDP Context for administering data flows is set up in theGGSN 208 in response to a request from the terminal/UE 202.

In particular, the BM-SC 212 is responsible for providing and deliveringmobile broadcast services, and serves as an entry point forcontent-delivery services or servers that want to use MBMS. It sets upand controls MBMS transport bearers to the RAN 204 and can be used toschedule and deliver MBMS transmissions. The BM-SC 212 can also provideservice announcements to UEs that contain information needed to join anMBMS service. The BM-SC 212 can be used to manage security functionsspecified for multicast mode. The RAN 204 includes one or more basestations and base station controllers, or Node Bs and radio networkcontrollers (RNCs), that are conventional except to the extent that theradio signals transmitted toward the UE include the channel structuresdescribed in this application.

FIG. 3A depicts the RAN 204 in more detail. Radio network controllers(RNCS) 302, 304 control various radio network functions, including forexample radio access bearer setup, diversity handover, etc. Moregenerally, each RNC directs calls to and from a terminal/UE via theappropriate BSs, which communicate with each other through downlink(i.e., base-to-mobile or forward) and uplink (i.e., mobile-to-base orreverse) channels. In FIG. 3A, RNC 302 is shown coupled to BSs 306, 308,310, and RNC 304 is shown coupled to BSs 312, 314, 316.

Each BS, or Node B in 3G vocabulary, serves a geographical area that isdivided into one or more cell(s). In FIG. 3A, BS 316 is shown as havingfive antenna sectors S1-S5, which can be said to make up the cell of theBS 316, although a sector or other area served by signals from a BS canalso be called a cell. The BSs are typically coupled to theircorresponding RNCs by dedicated telephone lines, optical fiber links,microwave links, etc. The RNCs 302, 304 are connected with externalnetworks such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN), theinternet, etc. through one or more core-network entities.

As UEs move with respect to the BSs, and possibly vice versa, on-goingconnections are maintained through a process of handover, or hand-off,in which as a user moves from one cell to another, the user's connectionis handed over from one BS to another. In FIG. 3A, UEs 318, 320 areshown communicating with plural BSs in diversity handover situations. UE318 communicates with BSs 306, 308, 310, and UE 320 communicates withBSs 310, 312. A control communication link between the RNCs 312, 314permits diversity communications to/from the UE 320 via the BSs 310,312.

FIG. 3B is a block diagram of the base station 306 that shows portionsof the BS involved in generating the BCCH as described in thisapplication. It will be appreciated that FIG. 3B shows an arrangementthat is typical of base stations in the communication system 200. A basestation includes a number of transceiver units for two-way communicationwith UEs in the system, and FIG. 3B indicates these transceiver unitsTRU-1, TRU-2, TRU-3, . . . , TRU-N. In principle, the number oftransceiver units is not restricted; it may even be zero.

Each TRU is typically allocated a respective “channel group”, which is aset of downlink and possibly uplink radio carrier signals havingfrequencies planned with a given frequency reuse pattern in the system.In FIG. 3B, the transceiver unit TRU-1, for example, can belong to thechannel group “BCCH” and the other transceiver units can belong to thechannel group “TCH”, or “traffic channel”. Alternatively, there can be anumber of different TCH channel groups, with one or more of thetransceiver units belonging to each of the different groups, therebyenabling the different TCH groups to be planned with different frequencyreuse patterns.

A transceiver unit advantageously (but not necessarily) includes allfunctionality needed for handling radio signals in the communicationsystem, e.g., the eight time slots in a time-division multiple-access(TDMA) frame like that depicted by FIG. 1, including timing referencegeneration, signal processing, radio receiving, and transmitting andpower amplification. Thus, a transceiver unit typically includes radiotransmitting and receiving components that are controlled by and providesignals to and from one or more processors. For example, a transceiverunit can generate a signal having a plurality of frames, and each framecan include at least one of forward error correction and an errordetection element through suitable operation of the transceiver's signalprocessing and other functionality, which may include suitableprocessing resources for enciphering/deciphering signals.

As indicated in FIG. 3B, signals to and from the transceiver units passthrough a combiner 322 on their ways to or from the base station'santenna 324. The combiner 322 combines transmitted signals from theseveral transceiver units and distributes received signals to thetransceiver units.

Thus, it will be understood that the TRU in the BCCH channel groupformulates radio-frequency signals that are provided to the antenna 324.The signals have a channel structure configured for multimediainformation, including a broadcast communication channel, e.g., a BCCH,divided into a plurality of timeslots. As indicated for example by FIG.1, a predetermined one of the timeslots includes a pointer that pointsout at least one extension channel that is included in at least oneother timeslot in the radio signals and that carries unacknowledgedmultimedia information.

It is currently believed for system capacity reasons that the BCCH issuitable for carrying broadcast channels in this way. The BCCH is usedfor handover measurements and so the BCCH is continuously transmittedand cell planning is made with a high frequency-reuse factor. Thealready continuous broadcast of the BCCH carrier means that addingbroadcast capability to a system would not increase the activity factoror interference level. Radio signal quality or received signal strengthwill also typically be good at cell borders.

It will be understood, however, that BCCH channels are not the onlypossibility for broadcast-like information as described above. Carriersused for TCHs in the RAN can also be used. Even if a TCH has lower radioquality and a lower timeslot bit rate than a BCCH, more timeslots caneasily be used to obtain comparable service.

A system operator can determine the number of timeslots, service, andquality of its broadcasts by suitable dimensioning. The modulation andcoding scheme (MCS) for transmission in the RAN may be chosen based ondesired quality, coverage, and frequency plan, and the number ofchannels allocated for broadcast may be based on capacity and desiredservice requirement, e.g., the codec bit rate for the desired broadcastTV service. A number of different schemes (MCS-1 to MCS-9) are currentlystandardized for EGPRS. MCS-1 to MCS4 use Gaussian minimum shift keying(GMSK) modulation, and MCS-5 to MCS-9 use (3π/8) 8-ary phase shiftkeying (8-PSK) modulation.

As discussed above, an advantage of this arrangement is the absence of arequirement for special interaction between a terminal and a basestation. The base station need only continuously transmit unacknowledgedmultimedia information, and can be unaware of a receiver's position oractivation. The terminal selects a channel of the broadcast informationand also advantageously selects the best transmitter of thatinformation.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a mobile terminal or UE 202. To facilitateselection of broadcast information, a software application executed by aprocessor 402 in the terminal 202 may advantageously re-define theterminal's keypad 404. The software application may be stored in asuitable application memory 406 and operate for example such that “1” onthe keypad means channel 1, which is then the Service Guide in thearrangement depicted in FIG. 1. This is described in more detail below.

The terminal 202 may also download and/or cache desired information in asuitable memory 408 based on user preferences and terminal applications.With cached information, instant channel switching between broadcast TVchannels can be done because a streaming buffer need not be initiated.Either all broadcast channels can be downloaded and/or cached or one ormore channels can be downloaded and/or cached according to userconfiguration or previous usage. Non-real time transmissions, e.g., newsclips, may be downloaded and dynamically updated via the Service Guideto be viewed at the user's convenience. Time-stamping and storagerefresh would then possibly be needed, as well as Service Guideupdating. For example, a Service Guide update can be sent with newcontent (that is described in the update), a respective memory pointer,and a time stamp. The new content can be presented on the broadcastchannels and the pointer to the new content can be presented in theService Guide. In this way, a larger amount of data (clips) can beoffered per timeslot without any change in user access delay since therefresh rate can be increased. Although some content may not bereal-time and may be viewed at the user's convenience, such content canstill be updated with current information.

In the simplest form of this arrangement, it is not necessary speciallyto select the “best” base station, and thus no special control signalingis necessary. The typical cell selection that is carried out forhandling connection handovers should be sufficient to ensure adequateoperation. Besides cell selection, another approach to ensuring that aterminal receives a suitable broadcast signal is to use macro diversitycombining, in which signals broadcast from different transmitters arereceived and combined by a terminal in its receiver front end 410. Suchoperation is common in mobile telephone systems, and would needbroadcast content synchronization between base stations so that aterminal is able to decode and combine multiple received signals. Withsynchronized transmissions on TCHs with a frequency-reuse factor of 1,macro diversity can be achieved since an equalizer in the terminal'sreceiver 410 can combine the different cell's signals. With macrodiversity, the coverage is improved as well as the bit rate at cellborders.

Broadcasting TV in a GSM/EDGE communication system as described herewould typically use unencrypted transmission with unacknowledged-moderadio link control (RLC). Unencrypted transmission is supported in the3GPP standard, e.g., 3GPP TS 04.64 V8.7.0, General Packet Radio Service(GPRS); Mobile Station-Serving GPRS Support Node (MS-SGSN) Logical LinkControl (LLC) layer specification, Rel. 99 (December 2001). Ifencryption is desired, it can be performed at the application layer orbe controlled by subscription. Encrypted channels can be used for “pay”content, such as pay-per-view events.

Ordinary GPRS channels are set up from the BM-SC 212 or other providerof broadcast content to the base stations in the RAN 204. Contentchanges (within the available broadcast channels' capacity) and qualitycan be managed by the BM-SC. Also, the BM-SC can change the channelstructure or timeslot tree such as that depicted in FIG. 1 below themain-page (timeslot TS1) without changing other parts of the networkconfiguration.

To display real-time TV on a typical mobile phone with acceptablequality requires a data rate of about 40 kbps with no more than perhapsabout 2% BLER. The BCCH is typically planned with a frequency reusefactor of 12 to 15, which results in a carrier/interference (C/I) ratioof 10 dB to 12 dB at the cell border. The MCS-5 scheme provides 22kbps/timeslot and around 1% BLER at a C/I of 10 dB. It will beunderstood that the “packet error rate” corresponding to a 1% BLERdepends on the length of the transmitted IP packets because thetransmission is unacknowledged. If further improved BLER is required,then error correction techniques, such as the Forward Error Correction(FEC) (e.g., block codes, convolutional codes, Turbo codes, and theirvariations), could be used, in which case more bandwidth (about 5%-10%)would be required. Using two BCCH timeslots for a TV channel as depictedin FIG. 1 may provide the data rate needed for acceptable quality.

Thus, three TV channels could be served on the BCCH as depicted by FIG.1, with room for a channel that can be carried by a timeslot with a 22kbps data rate, which can be a service guide and also information suchas text news, photos, and video clips. This channel can transmitinformation in a cyclic fashion, i.e., all information is nottransmitted in each timeslot, and the mobile can store this informationfor fast access. The information content can be similar to conventionaltext-TV/Tele-text, or more advanced, with multimedia content includingsounds and images.

It is currently believed that typical “off-line” information contentincludes more or less static text, photographs, and recorded sound andthat typical “on-line” information content includes streaminginformation such as broadcast television and radio. From one point ofview, off-line content is similar to a book or newspaper. It will beunderstood, however, that these categories do not have well-definedborders. In general, however, off-line content may be provided withcoding and/or transmission formats that are different from those usedfor providing on-line content.

It is currently believed that off-line content should include fewererrors than on-line, or streaming, content in order to match userexpectations that are based on experiences with books and television.Accordingly, a UE should store in its memory transmitted content thathas been received and decoded without error. To avoid having tore-transmit possibly lengthy content, content can advantageously bedivided into segments, or frames, that are repeatedly transmitted, witheach frame having a respective error detection/correction scheme, suchas FEC and/or a cyclic redundancy check or checksum element. If areceived frame had an error that was not corrected, the UE would attemptto receive and decode a subsequent transmission of that frame and insertthe correctly decoded frame in the memory in place of the erroneousframe. Thus, a receiver can have many chances to detect and correcterrors in received content, including scrapping part of the content andwaiting for re-transmission. If a user chooses to view stored contentthat includes one or more erroneous frames, the erroneous frame orframes would preferably be identified as such in a convenient way to theuser.

Media broadcasting in a GSM/EDGE or similar communication system asdescribed here is flexible and may be extended, improved, and enhancedin a number of ways.

For example, if spectrum is available, more TV channels may be added byallocating the spectrum to broadcast transmission over traffic channels.In a typical GSM communication system, frequency reuse must be similarto current BCCH reuse to fulfill requirements on the radio environment.The same tree-structure shown in FIG. 1 having a “TV Broadcast pointer”can be used to define additional TV broadcast channels on TCHfrequencies. In this case, the number of timeslots needed per channelwould depend on the frequency reuse, chosen coding scheme, etc., chosenby the system operator. Coverage and capacity would also depend onnetwork planning.

If this application's media broadcasting is based on acellular-communication-system structure, it is simple to implementdifferent levels of “local” broadcast transmission. Depending on demandand interest, TV channels can be broadcast in smaller or larger parts ofthe cellular network, i.e., by different base stations. It will beunderstood that this invention is not limited to cellular communicationssystems, and in particular this invention is not limited to GSM/GERANsystems.

Interactive or reactive add-on services, such as voting, placing orders,etc., can be supported by the enhanced channels described here, althougha feedback channel from the terminal to the base station would berequired. Such a feedback channel can be readily accomplished withclass-A terminals that have two separate radio transceivers, or even bymodification of the existing telecommunication standard applicable tothe particular communication system. Possibly, a terminal with tworeceiver chains but only one transmitter could be used, in a mannersimilar to a typical GSM/EDGE handset that has a DVB-H receiver.

A dedicated feedback channel enables user interactivity. Informationabout voting, selection, buying for the application is embedded in thebroadcasted content, either in the “Program Guide” or along with theaudiovisual content. The terminal application may store selections forlater uplink transmission or, if a backchannel is available, transmitthe result back to the server. One possible way to do this is “returnSMS”. For simplicity for the user, casting a vote can be done byactuating the yes/no buttons on the phone.

A feed-back channel can be used to order “pay-per-view” content, anddecryption keys for such content can be made available either via theService Guide on TS1 or on a dedicated forward channel. If a separateforward channel is not available, a common content decryption key can beprovided in an encrypted form through the Service Guide, and users whohave paid for the requested content can decrypt the encrypted form withuser keys that they already have. The Service Guide can be continuallyupdated with users who have paid and are allowed to obtain the contentdecryption key.

It may also be advantageous that while a terminal is in TV mode, i.e.,being used to receive broadcast information, the digit buttons on theterminal's keypad are used to select a TV channel. For example, pressing“1” could mean that TV channel 1 is selected, pressing “2” that TVchannel 2 is selected, etc. A joystick or other suitable device on theterminal could be used for volume control or step-wise channelselection. In this way, the physical layer is controlled from the keypadof a terminal.

For example, the UE may include keys dedicated for selection ofbroadcast content. A key-press can then be interpreted such that thephysical layer in the UE (i.e., the receiver 410) should receive anddecode timeslots 4 and 5 for an arrangement such as that depicted inFIG. 1. A block diagram of a UE 202 having such capability is shown inFIG. 4, and a more detailed block diagram is FIG. 5. Based on user-inputinformation from the keypad, keyboard, or joystick 404 and informationabout the broadcast system, e.g., the channel guide, which may bereceived from the network through the receiver 410 as described above,the control processor 402 determines which timeslot(s) to receive anddecode. The timeslot information is then fed both to a front endreceiver (Fe RX) 502 and a decoder 504 that are included in the receiver410. The Fe RX 502 and decoder 504 are the “physical layer” in the UE202. The Fe RX 502 receives signals captured by a suitable antenna 506and down-converts those signals to baseband. For power conservation, theFe RX 502 is turned on during the timeslots corresponding to the TVbroadcast selected by the user through the keypad 404 so that thebroadcast is received and decoded.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a method of distributing multimediainformation that is in accordance with one of the many aspects of thisinvention. In step 602, a broadcast communication channel is dividedinto a plurality of timeslots. In step 604, a pointer is included in apredetermined one of the timeslots that points out at least oneextension channel. As described above, the one or more extensionchannels are included in at least one other timeslot of the same oranother broadcast communication channel and carry unacknowledgedmultimedia information. In step 606, the multimedia information isdistributed by unacknowledged transmission of the broadcast channel.

Important advantages of the broadcast techniques and systems describedhere are expected to be that efficient service provisioning is madepossible and that “TV Concept” requirements, e.g., fast switchingbetween different TV channels, can be fulfilled, at the same time as nonew network nodes or radio hardware are required. The broadcast solutionenables efficient delivery of TV content to multiple users in a cell. Atthe same time, fast switching between channels is made possible,assuming that all available channels are continuouslytransmitted/broadcasted.

These techniques may be implemented within the existing GSM/EDGEstandard, e.g., 3GPP Rel. 5, with no or very minor impact on existinglegacy terminals; radio environment (interference) if the TV service istransmitted over the BCCH; architecture, signaling, etc.; and radio andcore networks. For the simplest form of TV Broadcast over GSM/EDGE, noor possibly only moderately changed new software might be required.Assuming that necessary hardware requirements, e.g., GSNs andEDGE-capable TRUs, are available, no additional new equipment (inaddition to terminals having suitable TV applications) is necessary.

It is expected that this invention can be implemented in a wide varietyof environments, including for example mobile communication devices. Itwill also be appreciated that procedures described above are carried outrepetitively as necessary. To facilitate understanding, aspects of theinvention are described in terms of sequences of actions that can beperformed by, for example, elements of a programmable computer system.It will be recognized that various actions could be performed byspecialized circuits (e.g., discrete logic gates interconnected toperform a specialized function or application-specific integratedcircuits), by program instructions executed by one or more processors,or by a combination of both.

Thus, the invention may be embodied in many different forms, not all ofwhich are described above, and all such forms are contemplated to bewithin the scope of the invention. For each of the various aspects ofthe invention, any such form may be referred to as “logic configured to”perform a described action, or alternatively as “logic that” performs adescribed action.

It is emphasized that the terms “comprises” and “comprising”, when usedin this application, specify the presence of stated features, integers,steps, or components and do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, components, or groups thereof.

The particular embodiments described above are merely illustrative andshould not be considered restrictive in any way. The scope of theinvention is determined by the following claims, and all variations andequivalents that fall within the range of the claims are intended to beembraced therein.

1. A channel structure configured for distribution of multimediainformation in a communication system, comprising: a broadcastcommunication channel divided into a plurality of timeslots; and apointer included in a predetermined one of the timeslots, the pointerpointing out at least one extension channel that is included in at leastone other broadcast timeslot and that carries unacknowledged multimediainformation.
 2. The channel structure of claim 1, wherein thecommunication channel is a broadcast control channel (BCCH) and the atleast one other timeslot is included in the BCCH.
 3. The channelstructure of claim 2, wherein the pointer is a character string includedin a timeslot zero.
 4. The channel structure of claim 2, wherein theBCCH includes a short message service (SMS) channel.
 5. The channelstructure of claim 1, wherein the pointer includes hidden informationthat comprises at least one of a modulation and coding scheme used on anextension channel and information on which timeslot corresponds to whichbroadcast channel.
 6. The channel structure of claim 1, wherein theplurality of timeslots on the broadcast communication channel include aplurality of extension channels, and the extension channels are arrangedin a tree structure having a root in the timeslot that includes thepointer.
 7. The channel structure of claim 6, wherein a first extensionchannel pointed to by the pointer carries service guide information. 8.The channel structure of claim 1, wherein multimedia information carriedby the extension channels comprises at least one of off-line informationand streaming television programs, and service guide information thatincludes television program information.
 9. The channel structure ofclaim 8, wherein the off-line content is carried by an extension channelas a plurality of frames and each frame includes at least one of forwarderror correction and an error detection element.
 10. A radio accessnetwork configured for distribution of multimedia information,comprising: a base station that broadcasts radio signals having achannel structure configured for the multimedia information, wherein theradio channel structure includes a broadcast communication channeldivided into a plurality of timeslots, and a predetermined one of thetimeslots includes a pointer that points out at least one extensionchannel that is included in at least one other timeslot in the radiosignals and that carries unacknowledged multimedia information.
 11. Theradio access network of claim 10, wherein multimedia information carriedby at least one of the extension channels comprises at least one ofoff-line information and streaming television programs, and serviceguide information that includes television program information.
 12. Theradio access network of claim 11, wherein the off-line content iscarried by an extension channel as a plurality of frames and each frameincludes at least one of forward error correction and an error detectionelement.
 13. A user equipment for a communication system in which abroadcast signal includes a succession of timeslots that carryunacknowledged multimedia information, comprising: an input deviceconfigured for activation by a user; a receiver configured to decode thebroadcast signal, wherein a predetermined one of the timeslots includesa pointer that points out at least one extension channel that isincluded in at least one other timeslot of a broadcast signal; and acontrol processor in communication with the input device and thereceiver; wherein, based on user-input information from the input deviceand information about the communication network, the control processordetermines at least one timeslot to receive and decode and causes thereceiver to receive and decode the determined timeslot.
 14. The userequipment of claim 13, wherein the broadcast signal includes a broadcastcontrol channel (BCCH) and the at least one other timeslot is includedin the BCCH.
 15. The user equipment of claim 14, wherein the pointerincludes hidden information that comprises at least one of a modulationand coding scheme used on an extension channel and information on whichtimeslot corresponds to which broadcast channel.
 16. The user equipmentof claim 13, wherein the receiver includes a front end receiver that isturned on only during the determined timeslot.
 17. The user equipment ofclaim 13, wherein the determined timeslot comprises at least one ofoff-line information, streaming television programs, and service guideinformation selected by the user through the input device.
 18. The userequipment of claim 17, wherein the user equipment further includes amemory configured to store unacknowledged multimedia information; theoff-line content is carried by an extension channel as a plurality offrames; each frame includes at least one of forward error correction andan error detection element; and correctly decoded off-line content isstored in the memory.
 19. A method of distributing multimediainformation in a communication system, comprising: dividing a broadcastcommunication channel into a plurality of timeslots; and including apointer in a predetermined one of the timeslots, wherein the pointerpoints out at least one extension channel that is included in at leastone other timeslot of a broadcast communication channel and that carriesunacknowledged multimedia information.
 20. The method of claim 18,wherein the broadcast communication channel is a broadcast controlchannel (BCCH) and the at least one other timeslot is included in theBCCH.
 21. The method of claim 19, wherein the pointer is a characterstring included in a timeslot zero.
 22. The method of claim 19, whereinthe BCCH includes a short message service (SMS) channel.
 23. The methodof claim 18, wherein the including step comprises the step of includinghidden information in the pointer, and the hidden information comprisesat least one of a modulation and coding scheme used on an extensionchannel and information on which timeslot corresponds to which broadcastchannel.
 24. The method of claim 18, wherein the plurality of timeslotsinclude a plurality of extension channels, and the dividing stepcomprises the step of arranging the extension channels in a treestructure having a root in the timeslot that includes the pointer. 25.The method of claim 24, wherein a first extension channel pointed to bythe pointer carries service guide information.
 26. The method of claim19, wherein unacknowledged multimedia information carried by the atleast one extension channel comprises at least one of off-lineinformation and streaming television programs, and service guideinformation that includes television program information.
 27. The methodof claim 26, wherein the off-line content is carried by an extensionchannel as a plurality of frames and each frame includes at least one offorward error correction and an error detection element.